In this project students of science collaborate with students of education in an interdisciplinary "learn-by-teaching" model to create lesson plans for elementary-school students. Using the content of organic evolution, newly introduced into Mississippi state education standards, students claim ownership of the material as they seek to understand it well enough to explain it to each other and to younger students. Focusing on the evolution of the nervous system, students enrolled in the biology course, Neuroscience, collaborate with students in the education course, Science in the Elementary School. Case studies prepared by science students are interpreted as lesson plans by education students and provided to in-service teachers. Students, course instructors, and in-service teachers compare these lesson plans to lesson plans prepared by standard methods, testing for the potential of plans to foster elementary students' understanding and enjoyment of the lessons. Successful aspects of this model can be applied to any course content and can be widely disseminated.
